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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wonky Star Tutorial

Here's a simply tutorial on how to make a 12.5" wonky star block for the Bushfire Quilt Project, which I blogged about in the previous post. (My apologies for the variations in the lighting of these photos, the clouds kept rolling in and out during this shoot.

UPDATED NOTE: I wrote this tutorial, in an attempt to make the process as straight forward and simple to follow as I possibly could. However, please know that if you use triangle shapes cut a bit larger, ( by an inch or two) you will have more leeway in how you position them and more possibilities in getting your star to be EXTRA wonky!

You will need to start with 13 squares of fabric each cut 4.5"
Out of these 13 squares you should have:
~ 8 white or cream, (these will be for the background)
~ 4 any color/pattern you choose, (these will be for the star points)
~ 1 any color/pattern you choose, (this will be the center of the star)

Stack the 4 star point squares and slice in half so you have 8 triangles...

Select 4 of the background squares and 4 of the star point triangles. Stitch one triangle to the right side of each background square. Changing the angle of the triangles will help create the wonky-ness of the star. (Make sure that when the triangle is flipped and ironed to the correct side, it extends past the edges of the background square.)

Cut the excess background fabric off...

Flip the star point triangle to the right side and press with a hot iron...

Sew the remaining 4 triangles to the left side of these 4 background blocks. You can overlap the triangles slightly at the bottom, or leave a space. Each variation just adds to the wonky-ness...

Again, cut off the excess fabric as shown...

and flip the star point triangle to the left side and press with a hot iron...

Cut off all excess fabric, making the squares 4.5" again...

Take your center square and using a scant, (just under) 1/4" seam allowance, stitch a completed star point square to both the left and right side as shown...

Take one of the remaining star point squares and again using a scant 1/4" seam allowance, sew a plain background square to both the left and right sides. Repeat with the 3 remaining squares...

Press and iron all 3 rows. (Because the background is light in color it's best to iron the seams towards the star points. Do this with the center row as well, thus helping to reduce bulk when all three rows are joined together)...

Line up the seams, pin and using a scant 1/4" seam allowance, stitch the top row to the middle row. Repeat with the bottom row...

Iron the seams towards the top and bottom rows. Flip to right side and smile at your completed wonky star!...

I would like to note that this technique was first devised by Gwen Marston and shown in her wonderful book Liberated Quiltmaking.

yup, yup, yup ... this is perfect! thanks. it made the process clearer for me than any of the other tutorials I've seen (including gwen's book!). also, if you start with all 5" square blocks, when it's all together you can square it up at a bit of an angle ... adding to the "wonk"!

thank you for the great tutorial...i haven't made wonky stars before and was feeling a little bewildered after looking at other tutorials. this one is so simple and your pix make it easy peasy! i'll be making wonky stars in no time!!

I was following along quite nicely for the cutting & folding part, but once the stitching kicked in I was a lost cause. I'll just have to make do with smiling at your completed wonky star :) This was a really nicely set out & easy to follow tutorial. I think you've helped a lot of people out by sharing this. And probably inspired a bunch of non-quilters to even give it a go!

Thank you for doing this tutorial. It is so well-organized and makes the whole process so much easier to understand! I will be doing my sewing tomorrow and hope to mail out a few blocks to the project sometime this week. This has really been a big help!

THANK YOU! I followed the tutorial for maverick stars and then realised that my blocks would be 6 inches instead of 12 and half - oops! Was just sitting here thinking what size I needed to cut my squares to end up with a 12 and half inch block when I found your comment on the Bushfire Quilts flicker page. Really should stop and think before I cut and sew! ;-)

Victoria,Thank you sooooooooo much for your great tutorial!!! I have some friendship stars cut out for the Australia project, but now that I have this, and it makes sense, I'll make a few of these too!You made it so easy to follow. Thank you, thank you!!!Sally in TX

Thank you for posting this great tutorial! A good friend of mine sent me a link to your blog. Im making a quilt for my son using this star pattern, I hope you dont mind I linked back to you. Let me know if you do mind, I can take it off. Thanks again! Your blog is great!!

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I am still very new at quilting, and am trying my hand at different techniques to get the hang of things. I love this one so much, I think I'll make a quilt for myself (do we quilters *ever* make quilts for ourselves...?!) out of these blocks.

Thank you so much for such a straightforward tutorial. Have just made 3 blocks. I've never made this block before and I don't think I could have been directed to a better tutorial than yours. Many thanks. Much appreciated!!

Thank you so much for this tutorial! A wonky star pattern is exactly what I was looking for, and your tutorial is so clear and easy to follow. I made my first one using 2.5" squares and it turned out beautifully. Thank you again for your help.

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